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Airport shuttle driver admits he left Howell man to die

Associated Press
5:32 p.m. EDT July 2, 2014

Fidel Ortez
(Photo:
COURTESY ESSEX COUNTY JAIL
)

NEWARK – An airport shuttle driver has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a 2012 hit-and-run death in a parking lot at Newark Liberty International Airport, killing 61-year-old Jeffrey Zeisler of Howell.

The Essex County prosecutor’s office says 48-year-old Fidel Ortez of West New York pleaded guilty on Monday to leaving the scene of an accident in which Zeisler was killed.

Prosecutors will recommend Ortez serve 364 days in jail as part of a plea agreement.

Investigators say Zeisler was fatally struck in the parking lot on Nov. 12, 2012, after arriving at the airport to catch a red-eye flight to attend training for a new job.

Prosecutors say Ortez drove over Zeisler and stopped to check the victim’s pulse before leaving. He told a dispatcher a man was lying in the parking lot.